Launchpad’s Association With Della Duck: Time to Rewind

Part 1 | Part 2 || Part 3 | Part 4| Part 5 || Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 

Continued from Part 10 

This show has some serious replay value. There’s a number of things I’ve never fully paid attention to until a significant amount of the story has passed. Picking up on these subtle details can help us find patterns and connections the showrunners may be leading into: “Hey, if [x] is happening, what could that mean for [y]? Could these points be indicating a correlation?”

In most cases, the big reveals of a story aren’t suddenly placed in front of us. Sometimes they’re similar concepts in circulation; giving us an idea of what to expect without being straightforward. They accumulate up to that revealing point. When you’re watching a show dedicated to solving mysteries, there will be elements that can’t be taken at face value. Continuously treating everything as it is, can cause us to easily miss out on any clever clues we might be getting.

For example, Della’s room in the Money Bin was decorated with Space imagery and objects pertaining to transportation. Even after Selene denounced any knowledge of a spear, we were still presented with things that were reminiscent of outer space; like Dewey’s late show backdrop, or the Sphere of Selene, which loosely resembled the place Della was stranded on. 

It wasn’t just a room full of stuff. It wasn’t just a random setting Dewey chose for his secret show. It wasn’t just a crystal ball with images. They were all leading up to one important thing.

Learning more about Della and developing another theory around her gave me a new perspective. I became curious about how it would change the way I look at older episodes and began watching them again.

In the latter half of “Woo-oo!” where Donald is confronting Scrooge in the water trap, he states “This is the Spear of Selene all over again!”. Now that we have more information, his statement made me want to see just how much the Atlantis trip reflected that situation:

• When we first see Scrooge, he’s in a business meeting with the vultures 
  

• They tell him that they’re cutting the funding for deep sea exploration as well as experimental tech; just like they ended Scrooge’s expensive search for Della

• The snowstorm on the Drake Barrier Reef sounds similar to the cosmic storm Della faced as they were both strange weather occurrences 
  

• The snowstorm was tied to a prophecy where every fifty years, it creates a pathway to the lost city of Atlantis

• It’s uncertain if the cosmic storm was a pathway of some sort, but it was a sudden occurrence that Della was not expecting

• Issue 18 also dealt with strange weather patterns as Diane was making her way to Duckburg in her submarine

• When Scrooge finds out about the tsunami alert in his office, the prophecy artifact is featured in that panel

• In the same panel, Scrooge asks Beakley if there are any weather phenomena that only occur once in a millennium

• Scrooge was reading through an article about the snowstorm in the newspaper he had with him since the meeting and Launchpad later tries to talk to him about it

• He tells Scrooge that he would “hate to fly into that one” and that he’s “a bit of a pilot”

• This matches up with how Della headed into the cosmic storm and could be hinting that Launchpad was involved

• So, straight from his debut episode, he’s a pilot with similar colors to Della and was chosen to be the first to mention a possible analogy to the occurrence she was faced with

• Beakley’s overprotective tenancies towards Webby is similar to how Donald is with the triplets
  

• When Scrooge insists on her coming with him on the adventure, she declines the offer and talks about how she needed to take care of Webby 

• In Scrooge’s “Last Crash” flashback, Donald argued with Della about how traveling in Space was too dangerous and was concerned about the safety of the boys

• Webby doesn’t tell her granny about the trip just like Scrooge doesn’t tell Donald and how no one told Donald about the Spear being built behind his back
  

• Della never let Scrooge or Donald know why she left either

• The premiere presented us with our first case of a pilot being deceived as Dewey sabotages the route on the map Launchpad was given 
  

• Later on in the season, Dewey and Webby cause Launchpad to crash the Sunchaser in “Selene” and in the next season, Huey works with Dewey to trick Launchpad into stealing the submarine 

• Could this be hinting that there was a deceptive part of Della’s journey to Space? Was she tricked into a set-up when she took the Spear as soon as she did? Was this caused by someone she trusted? Or could these instances be hinting that the father was the one who was tricked?

• I had wondered if Della was baited into a trap based on how someone had misinformed Diane about Launchpad being kidnapped and enslaved by a terrain oligarch

• In Season 2, Penumbra activated the Emergency Launch and pretended to act like she didn’t know what was happening

• Della made the mistake of trusting Lunaris since he was only using her for his plans of invasion

• Launchpad gets injured when Dewey sets off a snake trap 
  

• He survives but he’s disoriented from the venom

• Since his “little snake venom” line sounds similar to what he said in “The Spear of Selene!” where he claims that “a little lightning never killed anyone”, maybe the snake bites represented him getting struck during the cosmic storm or getting sick

• Getting bitten by the snakes displayed Launchpad’s high tolerance for pain; something he could have gained from genetic mutation

• Donald unintentionally applies for a job with one of Scrooge’s sworn enemies
  

• He later gets backstabbed and made a prisoner to ensure that Scrooge wouldn’t be able to take the Jewel of Atlantis away from them

• Did this loosely foreshadow what would happen on the Moon?  This takes place in a room full of gold and in Season 2 he’s being held prisoner on a “planet” full of gold  

• If this is supposedly “the Spear of Selene all over again, “what if it was the father who was faced with something similar? Could this also have been reflecting how the father may have been captured? 

• Before Donald arrived, Della unintentionally aligned herself with a bad guy and was backstabbed when Lunaris lied about her betrayal

• Dewey’s line where he says "Stop! Scrooge was trying to keep me out of trouble, but I was so caught up in–why is there a lamp on the floor?” reminded me of how Scrooge was trying to warn Della about the cosmic storm
  

• He told her to turn around, but she continued anyway

• The Lost Jewel of Atlantis that Glomgold and his crew obtained ends up being a fake
  

• I think this could have represented Della’s true intentions for going into Space: 

• We’re led to believe that Della was being selfish and cast her family aside just so she could go on an adventure, but Selene stated that Della loved her family more than anything in the world

• As a kid, she wanted to hunt down Santa for Scrooge and was deeply hurt by her brother ditching her on Christmas

• And for over a decade, Della tried time and time again to come back to Earth so she could be a mother to her children

• If family is what Della treasures the most, her trip was more than likely in relation to that

• There’s a bit of a running gag that Launchpad started where a character says a line about family or treasure being the greatest thing of all, but there tends to be a twist where they’re interrupted or don’t stay true to the statement:
  

• In the first half of Woo-oo!”, Launchpad says “Aw, family truly is the greatest adventure of–oh no, the ground!” before crashing.

• In the latter half of Woo-oo!”, Glomgold says “Welcome new employees, to Glomgold Industries. Where our employees are the greatest treasure of all!” and “Don’t be ridiculous, treasure is the greatest treasure of all! That’s why it’s called treasure!

• At the end of “Shadow War”, Donald starts to say “Family truly is the greatest–” but the Barksian modulator begins to malfunction

• At the end of “Treasure of the Found Lamp!”, Dewey says “Triumph for our new ally! Having found both the lamp and the greatest treasure of all: A cool story to tell!”

• I believe that there will be a point where Della or another character combines the two and states that family is the greatest treasure of all

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In “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!”, the family aims to scale the epic monument to accomplish multiple things: Huey wants to earn his cartography badge, Dewey and Webby want to have the perfect sledding experience and Scrooge wants to be the first person to reach the top of the mountain. Unlike other adventures, he isn’t looking for treasure in return. He wants to prove to himself and everyone else that he’s the great explorer he claims to be by beating the record of George Mallardy, the DT equivalent to the famed climber, George Mallory. According to legend, Mallardy got lost trying to rescue an incompetent fellow climber from the mountain, who was referred to as “The Neverrest Ninny”.

As the crew presses on, their path becomes very confusing. For some reason, they keep passing the same rock formation despite heading in a different direction every time. When it starts to snow, Scrooge insists that they take shelter in a cave somewhere up ahead. Huey begins to question his uncle’s knowledge: If they’ve never crossed this path and if this area is supposedly uncharted, then how did he know where it was? Dewey and Webby soon come across cave drawings that seem to depict multiple climbers having their heads cut off from their bodies and then find the remains of George Mallardy himself.

Once the kids spotted an angry message about Scrooge from Mallardy written on the wall, there was no denying he was connected to him in some way. The billionaire sighs and reluctantly reveals that he was the Neverrest Ninny. Back when Scrooge made his first million, he wanted to take a great risk to celebrate the occasion. This reminds me of how Della took off with the Spear after Scrooge had it built to celebrate the birth of his nephews. Revisiting the mountain in the present was also another case of a great risk being taken during a celebratory event as the episode took place on Christmas Day.

Young Scrooge had hired Mallardy to lead him up Mt. Neverrest but his inexperience caused him to be overly cautious. The tremendous amount of equipment he had brought along on the trip began to weigh both of the climbers down. After Scrooge refused to let go of the load, Mallardy carelessly cut him off and decided to climb the mountain without him. Still feeling sour about the ordeal, Scrooge walks past Mallardly’s body to taunt him about gaining the title of being the furthest up the mountain. Huey expresses disgust over his uncle’s pettiness, in which Scrooge replies,“What? He was a backstabbing braggart who almost got me killed!”

Confusion about their journey continues to ensue while Huey becomes more and more aggravated by Scrooge’s persistence. The Junior Woodchuck argues with him about how the danger was no longer worth the journey, but Scrooge isn’t ready to give up with Neverrest’s peak right in front of them. He tries to assure Huey that nothing bad will happen, but as soon as he does, Dewey and Webby fall off of a collapsing pillar and off the edge of the icefall…only to suddenly end up on another pillar close to the peak? Huey now understands the mystery of the mountain.

“Wormholes! This mountain is covered in some kind of mystical, dimensional doorways that have been randomly zapping us around the trail all day!” 

 Much to his dismay, this discovery only causes the rest of his group to act even more reckless.

During my first viewing of the whole argument scene, I immediately thought about Scrooge, Donald and Della’s team dynamic from the IDW comics and later thought about the way they acted towards the idea of space travel:

• Dewey and Webby are a lot like Della in general. They’ve been willing to risk their lives to ride down the mountain all day and continue to jump head first into danger to retrieve their sled 
• Even after Huey warned them about the icefall being unstable 

• Scrooge stays himself, he encourages the notion of moving forward in the adventure

• Huey is similar to Donald as he wants his family to remember common sense
• He wants them to be mindful about what they’re doing and turn back

I think Scrooge’s attitude in “Neverrest” could be reflecting Della during her argument with Donald as well. Perhaps she yelled back about not wanting to give up on her goal too. Maybe she was very close to finding out where and what happened to the father. Scrooge’s attitude also reminds me of a couple of things from “The Last Crash of The Sunchaser!” as well. That moment when he when he accidentally tells Mrs. Beakley “Nonsense, nothing bad is going to happen to her.” and Dewey’s determination to grab the last piece of Scrooge’s ripped photo. 

On the icefall, Huey keeps urging Scrooge to just be satisfied with what he’s accomplished. He doesn’t need to get to the very top to prove his competence. His distance is enough, the mountain won’t let him proceed. To further illustrate his point, Huey recites Junior Woodchuck Rule 727 as he literally lets go of his dream of getting his cartography badge.

“Sometimes the bravest thing an explorer can do is walk away."

This part is reminding me of “Last Crash” and Della’s trip as well. Huey tried to convince Dewey that his current family was enough and that he should let go of his desire to solve the mystery of their mother to prevent things from getting worse. When Della stared at her family photo in “Happened to Della” and then at the Earth, I believe she was changing her focus in a similar manner. There was nothing wrong with wanting to help out a member of her family…but what about the current family in her household? This was too ambitious of a mission to carry out by herself. She made the effort and got very far, but if she kept going, she may have never made it back home to them. If she was going to get off the Moon, she had to let go of her original goal and make being a mother to her children, her top priority.

Scrooge finally listens to his nephew and grabs the sought-after sled from a wedge in the pillar he’s standing on so they can turn back. But doing so, causes the rock to crack and fall. This provokes an avalanche and causes the group to ride the sled down together. Now that I think about it, an avalanche shares some similarities with a thunderstorm as they’re both classified as natural hazards that have to do with rumbling and cloudy formations.

Before this plot development, we’re presented with another example of a pilot being misled. In the tourist area near the mountain, a gift shop owner convinces Launchpad to believe in a fake illness called “ice fever”. Not wanting to take anything to chance, he buys a bunch of the salesman’s merchandise and adds it to the weight of equipment he was told to carry. As the group passes through a stone archway, the load on Launchpad’s back causes him to get stuck. His struggle to move forward only causes him to fall back and slide down the mountain.

Was LP unable to join the group on their path to certain death as a hint to his immortality? That the father survived his time in Space?

He continues to tumble until he lands in a strange room. Disoriented from the fall, LP looks around to figure out where he is, but he can’t see. He quickly starts to panic, as he believes he’s gone snow-blind from ice fever! But in reality, he just rolled into a spa center and the heat from the sauna he landed in, caused his goggles to fog up. 

Launchpad manages to escape the misty area and wanders into a hot spring. Exhaustion from the heat combined with the weight of the water on his clothing, makes it harder for him to move. This causes him to believe the second stage of ice fever is setting in. He refuses to take off his gear so he won’t freeze to death. 

Launchpad’s bout with ice fever sounds like it could be reflecting part of the father’s experience in Space. Without a pressurized spacesuit, the temperature of the fluids inside your body will plummet to a very low boiling point. And for the most part, Space is extremely cold…so, the final stage of exposure will result in being frozen. (Scary stuff.) If being affected by the chemicals wasn’t due to missing his spacesuit, perhaps the heat portion of ice fever is representing how the energy from the storm may have caused the temperature inside the spacecraft to rise. Maybe his vehicle and suit were damaged or maybe both weren’t enough to protect him. If he did fall back to Earth, another possible thing the heat portion could be representing is his re-entry.

Something else that could further draw a connection between ice fever and Space is that hot springs are similar to hydrothermal vents. They're both linked to volcanic activity and contain chemicals that could result in interesting side effects. We see Launchpad submerged in both of these aquatic environments without struggling to breathe and they even share a cloudy formation with the cosmic storm.

Launchpad becomes even more delusional as fear and humidity hinder his thought process. Louie, who had dipped out on the group earlier as soon as he learned there wasn’t a treasure to be found, discovers Launchpad soaking in a barrel. Once LP recognizes the triplet, he warns him of ice fever and tries to protect him from it. Louie immediately picks up on the game the gift shop owner was playing and devises a plan to get back at him for tricking someone he considers as family.

Louie pulls Launchpad over to the owner at his shop and openly complains about how the merchandise failed to protect his friend from ice fever. Launchpad falls on his back and sees a bright light. He is certain that he’s about to die and tells Louie to bury him among the clouds. I wonder if this could be reflecting how the father was near-death in the storm until a bolt of lightning struck him or perhaps it was part of him passing out.

The owner gets frustrated with Launchpad’s foolishness and admits that ice fever isn’t real…right in front of his own customers. After he gets chased away, Louie snatches off LP’s goggles. This snaps the pilot out of his daze and now he’s under the impression that Louie saved him.

"You single-handedly carried me off the mountain and cured me of ice fever!" 

On the surface, Launchpad’s plot seems like this silly, side-adventure that doesn’t have anything to do with the main storyline, but they’re actually connected by the legend of George Mallardy. Both Young Scrooge and Launchpad were incompetent climbers who didn’t get to reach their goal due to being overly cautious. Scrooge also directly called Launchpad a Neverrest Ninny when he assumed he chickened out. In fact, Launchpad’s side of the story matches the legend even closer than what Scrooge described since there was the belief of a rescue. Even though the myth wasn’t accurate, its structure was still very important to both aspects of the episode.

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So, in short, “Neverrest” dealt with concepts such as…

• Someone trying to prove themselves after being unsuccessful the first time 

• Someone getting lost in a foggy area

• Someone getting lost trying to save someone else

• Getting betrayed by someone you trusted

• Passageways in an uncharted territory

• Extreme weather conditions

• An illness brought on by an abnormal environment

• (Fear of) Death

• Letting go of a dream when it becomes too difficult

Acknowledging the comparison being made between Scrooge and Launchpad makes me wonder what other information is possibly being expressed here. If this has anything to do with HDL’s Father, was his space trip fueled by a desire to prove himself? Did he skip out of or was unsuccessful at something because he was scared? I’ve made comparisons to Della’s situation when it comes to pressing forward on a goal, but could there have been something the father had to give up on?

Who could Mallardy represent? If Della was trying to save the father, then going after him almost got her killed. And Mallardy ended up dying like Della probably believes the father did. Was the father kind of a braggart? Did he cut Della off by ending or putting their relationship on hold? Did someone or something interfere with their contact? Did he betray her in some way? Did someone betray him?

_______________

In “The Great Dime Chase!”, Scrooge gets fed up with Louie’s laziness and decides it’s time for his nephew to learn the value of hard work. He brings him to The Money Bin with Dewey and Webby tagging along on the ride. Scrooge starts off his lesson with the history of his Number-One Dime, but it soon leads into a surprise board meeting with the vultures wanting to cut back on spending for the Money Bin. 

As Scrooge argues back and forth with the trio, Louie slips out of the room to grab a soda from the vending machine. When he comes up short on money, he remembers the dime Scrooge had tried to talk to him about earlier. Having interrupted his uncle’s lesson by attempting to dive into the pool of gold coins, Louie doesn’t think much about the consequences of stealing the dime.  He doesn’t find anything significant about the coin and simply promises to pay Scrooge back. But when Louie returns to the meeting, he catches Scrooge during a passionate ramble about how that dime was the start of his fortune and prompted his move to America! Louie realizes that he messed up big time. He immediately goes on a hunt to retrieve the lost dime before Scrooge is able to notice.

And so, the struggle begins: Louie makes it to the vending machine, but the janitor just finished collecting the money from it. Louie tries to get his attention, but the elevator closes on him. Louie races up the staircase to the fifty-seventh floor to meet up with the janitor, but he’s already dumped the money off in a room to be sorted. Louie tries again to get his attention…but the employee is already going back in the elevator. 

Louie looks into the window of the room and quickly spies the dime on a heap of change. He starts to relax and devises a plan to break in but he’s running out of time. The money sorting machine was getting dangerously close to the pile. The triplet gets frustrated with his situation.

"Aww, there’s gotta be a better way!”

Right on cue, Gyro walks into the elevator, grumbling his own frustrations over the board rejecting the request to fund his latest invention. A trip down the stairs later, Louie meets up with Gyro and makes a deal with him: If the scientist allows him to test Lil’ Bulb, he’ll provide him with the money needed to produce more of them. Gyro agrees and Louie quickly puts the robot to work. After breaking the room’s door open, Louie mistreats Lil’ Bulb. He doesn’t give him credit when it’s due and forces the little helper to find the dime while he sits around watching his phone.

A little while later, Scrooge’s Number One Dime rolls over to Louie’s feet. He begins to congratulate Lil’ Bulb on a job well done but becomes stunned by what he sees as he gazes upward. When the robot was left unattended, he had fused himself with the money sorting machine to find the dime faster. Doing so provided him with way too many watts and caused him to go mad with power. Now he was obsessed with finding every dime in his path. 

The new Lil’ Bulb chases Louie all the way up into Scrooge’s office. Along the way, Gyro attempts to break his invention out of his rampage by reminding him who he is; that he’s good, not evil. It isn’t enough to stop Lil’ Bulb for long but Gyro holds on to him as he tries to figure out the problem. Things continue to get worse for Louie as the pesky coin rolls off the diving board and into Scrooge’s gold belongings. Once the dime is back in Louie’s sight, Gyro resolves Lil’ Bulb’s issue and removes him from the machine. This opens the back compartment and releases a flood of dimes on top of Louie. 

He gets back up and trudges through the money, desperately reaching out for the dime…and manages to put it back in its place before Scrooge enters his office. Scrooge is pleased with his nephew spending the day with him at the bin and gifts Louie with his precious dime. The triplet is confused by his uncle easily handing over something so important to him, but then, Scrooge reveals that the dime on display was just a decoy–he keeps the real dime with him at all times.

Before that side of the story escalates, Dewey and Webby create an excuse to get away from Scrooge and Louie. They run down the staircase to visit the bin’s private library in hopes to find more about Della. Once there, they’re greeted by Emily Quackfaster, a mysterious archivist who is very dedicated to maintaining and concealing information. Instead of providing them with straight answers, she talks to the kids in riddles and puts them through a bunch of trials to prove their worth; one of which involves solving a code with a wall full of opened catalog drawers. Dewey starts to question Quackfaster’s process…Was any of this “training” going to amount to the goal? Or was she stalling and fooled the kids into doing voluntary work? As Quackfaster refuses to budge with her ways, Dewey gets annoyed and wants to leave. But the archivist stops him.

"No! None shall leave while the trials are undertaken!

There are those who will destroy you for the knowledge you seek!”

“Who’s gonna destroy me? Scrooge? The government? The Unicorn Illuminati?”

“Me.”

Quackfaster pulls out a sword and chases the kids throughout the library! The kids try to throw her off by tossing books in her direction, but it isn’t enough to stop her. Once they reach the last book on their cart, Dewey threatens to damage it if Quackfaster doesn’t give him answers about his mom. The archivist calmly brings the cover of the book to his attention: “The Life and Times of Della Duck”. Here it is!  Information on his mother! Right in the palms of his hands! He quickly opens the book to find…nothing. All the pages are blank…except for one with a Dewey decimal code printed on it. Webby suddenly recognizes the location of the number and urges Dewey to follow her. 

The code leads them to the very end of an aisle. But why? Before they could wonder too long, Dewey notices that a bunch of books from the surrounding cases are out of order. Quackfaster encourages them to use their training from the trials to figure out why they were placed this way.  Once Dewey puts the last book in its proper place, this activates a strange pathway emitting a blue light. It leads them back to the end of the aisle where the picture frame on the wall has now lifted and uncovered a biometric security system. Placing his hand on the machine opens up an entire room full of Della-related things! Including her farewell note to Scrooge. Dewey immediately wants to tell his brothers about this discovery, but the speculations of betrayal compel him and Webby to keep it to themselves until they find out more about the situation.

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Watching this episode again, Louie’s hunt for Scrooge’s Number-One Dime feels like it’s foreshadowing Lena’s mission. That could certainly be the intent of this plot, but if Dewey’s desire to solve a mystery was mirroring what Della was doing, like “Last Crash” may have implied…what if Louie was mirroring how the father could have been busy resolving a serious problem he had caused? What if it was so serious, that he couldn’t tell Della about it because he was afraid of how he would be perceived? Both Della’s disappearance and the dime have Moon connections that played a huge part in “The Shadow War!”. In turn, that episode played a huge part of “Duke Baloney” as it leads into Glomgold getting amnesia in a Space-like environment.  

This transition invokes the feeling that these two separate plots are connected in some way.

Louie’s solution to his problem involved breaking into a room to get something valuable and borrowing Gyro’s experimental technology. What if the father broke into some place to steal a spacecraft? What if it was actually the father who was going on a test run? In “The Depths of Cousin Fethry!”, we see Huey and Dewey trick Launchpad into stealing Scrooge’s submarine under the false claim of testing the equipment. While this definitely could have been done to express a comparison to Della taking the Spear, this could also be telling us that the father did something similar and their actions are linked to one another. Maybe even telling us that either one of them stealing the spacecraft was part of being deceived or betrayed…which sounds a bit like Issue 18 of IDW’s DuckTales series.

Louie expects the new invention to help him out but it ends up making things worse by turning into a monstrous machine with way too much power. Could something have gone haywire with the spacecraft the father was using? If the cosmic storm wasn’t exactly tied to a prophecy, could the father have provoked it in some way? Could things getting out of hand be in reference to accidentally causing Della to crash in the process?

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“The Beagle Birthday Breakout!” begins with Webby helping the boys prepare for their kayaking trip. She makes the suggestion of adding hotdog covered safety vests to their supplies in case they get lost and Louie is tempted to eat them. Huey brushes off this odd idea and throws these vests out of the boat. As soon as he does this, a hungry flock of seagulls grab ahold of the yellow garments and fly away with them. Huey assures Webby that they’ll be fine, he and his brothers have gone on many kayaking trips in the past. They’ll especially be safer with Huey being in charge of the map instead of Louie, who was deemed “Captain Lost” after his poor guidance caused one of their trips to go wrong. 

Once the kids are ready to shove off, they all jump into the boat together, but they aren’t able to fit comfortably. As they try to adjust themselves, Webby ends up falling out. The boys never considered the boat being too small for four people…Huey is willing to give up his spot for her but Webby insists that it’s ok; she’ll just join them when they get back. The boys row out to Audubon Bay and leave Webby sadly sitting in the sand. Having grown up together, the triplets already had a closely knit bond. They had traditions that were intended for the three of them and they laughed about inside jokes she didn’t really understand. Even though they had made the effort to integrate her into their circle, she was still feeling very left out.

A bottle with a piece of paper, suddenly washes ashore in front of her. Webby opens the bottle to see that the message was sent out by a “Lost Sailor caught in a DEADLY WHIRLPOOL” who has “no hope of survival!!” Webby decides to set off on her own adventure to save the noble traveler! As she runs along the beach, she receives even more bottles from people who need help. Picking up the messages eventually leads her to an abandoned Greek theater where a mysterious teen named Lena, is scribbling away. Webby lets the girl know that she’s here to “save either a sailor, group of sailors, or a shark from a sea serpent / pirate / invasion / and or scurvy!”. Lena reveals that she was the one who created the messages to mess with the receivers as part of a game. Having nothing else to do, Webby wants to play along with her, but doesn’t quite get the purpose of inciting fear in her readers.

Lena wants nothing to do with the child yet she humors her with small talk; evading questions about her magical talisman and discussing her travels. It isn’t until Webby shows an example of her spy training that Lena is suddenly intrigued. This socially awkward kid she just met might be useful in her plans…she invites Webby to a party she describes as a “blowout on the edge of town”. Webby would love to go, but she wants them to wait for the boys to come back first so she can let them know where she’s going. Lena persuades her out of that notion.

“But the party could be over by then. C'mon, it’ll be an adventure!”

By the time the girls make it to the junkyard, the Moon is set in place of the Sun. Lena convinces Webby to unlock the gate despite finding out that her new teenage friend doesn’t actually have an invitation to this party. After having a good look at the party guests, Webby quickly comes to realize they had just crashed the birthday celebration of Ma Beagle, the leader of Duckburg’s biggest crime family! They need to leave! But it was too late, Ma recognizes Webby from getting her arrested in “Daytrip of Doom!” and demands her boys to capture both of the girls! The Original Classics chase them down an ally with a truck. The Longboard Taquitos glide overhead when the two reach the rooftop of a building. And when The Ugly Failures pose as a threat, Webby and Lena team up to fool the brothers into thinking they’re Ma’s adopted daughters from another country.

The friends get away from all the Beagles and make it to a playground where they laugh about surviving the fiasco and how they snagged a radio along the way. Webby couldn’t wait to tell Huey, Dewey and Louie about the nickname she earned during the adventure. Lena’s demeanor suddenly changes at the sound of this.

“You mean those three nerds who ditched you on a beach? Yeah, they sound real fun.”

Webby clarifies that this wasn’t out of malicious intent, she purposely let them go on without her due to lack of space on the boat. There’s no hard feelings between them, it’s a family thing. Lena isn’t very fond of family. Webby can’t believe this! As far as she’s concerned, “family is the best!”

The two continue to talk and play until something starts to rustle in the bushes.The girls prepare themselves to fight their unexpected visitor but it’s Huey, Dewey and Louie who emerge from the leaves, meaning them no harm. They’ve been worried out of their minds trying to figure out where Webby’s been this whole time. She tries to explain herself, but Lena quickly comes to her defense.

"Right, you were so worried, that you left her on a beach and didn’t show up for four hours?”

Huey states that abandoning Webby wasn’t their intention. The boys had gotten lost by putting Louie in charge of the map again. Louie soon gets in a fight with Dewey for teasing him about it but it doesn’t last for long; a real threat was looming with the Tumblebum Beagles creeping into the playground. The kids climb into a rocketship-shaped structure to hide from their foes and come up with a way to escape them. This only leads into another brother fight that Huey struggles to break up. 

While the boys are distracted, Lena and Webby climb down to a lower part of the structure. The teenager suggests for them to leave the boys as bait while they make a run for it but Webby doesn’t want to leave her friends behind. Lena reminds her of how they left her on the beach and questions her about trust but Webby is too dedicated to play into this. She asks Lena to wait for her and gets the boys to focus on a plan. Their teamwork is a success! …But Lena is nowhere to be found.

The kids return to the beach where Webby sulks about her new friend bailing on her. She was hoping that Lena and her would have a relationship in a similar vein to the bond the triplets had with each other. Huey comforts her by promising to include her on the next kayaking trip instead of Louie because “he’s bad at most things”. Their laughter is cut short when a couple of bottles float in from the bay. They’re from Lena! The first one states that she’s been kidnapped by the Beagle Boys in Ma’s plot for revenge! And the following bottle confirms this isn’t part of a prank! How were they going to help her? 

Louie suggests getting Scrooge, Beakley and a couple of tanks involved but Webby says there isn’t time for all of that. They need to get out there and save her! The kids quietly swim up to the Greek theater to the pillar where Lena is tied up. Webby comes from under the boat they had covered over themselves and works on untying her but the Beagles immediately notice and tie her up to the next pillar. The triplets are also caught in no time.  Lena is irritated by Webby’s poorly planned attempt.

       “Seriously?! Your rescue plan was to throw yourself blindly in the middle

        of the entire Beagle family?”

Webby retaliates against this remark.

“How is that any different from what you did at the Junkyard?!”

This reminds Lena why she doesn’t care much for family. All they ever do is fight…wait, that’s it! Lena conjures up a new plan by asking the Beagles who would take credit for their capture. All the Beagle groups want to get the highest approval from Ma and begin to argue about this. A fight soon escalates and sets off a fog machine, helping the kids to make their escape to the mansion. The kids exchange compliments about surviving the rescue together and bid Lena farewell. The well-traveled teen heads back to her hideout to summon her aunt’s shadow with her amulet to let her know she had found a way into Scrooge’s family circle.
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There are a lot of things in this episode that remind me of Della. Getting lost on a trip matches up very well with what happened during the Spear incident. The boys didn’t intend to make Webby feel abandoned, and Della didn’t mean to desert her sons or break the promise she made to the Moonlanders in “The Golden Spear!”. The adventurers wanted everyone to join them on the journey, but circumstances got in the way. Even when Webby had the chance to leave HDL, she didn’t want them to feel left out.

An interesting detail about the triplets’ kayaking trip is that this is the second time they got lost. During the first time, it was just the three of them but during the second time, someone was left behind. This could coincide with the idea of the father getting lost in outer space while traveling on his own and how Della left her family behind when she went after him. It was Louie’s fault in both instances with the kayak and Huey states that his brother is bad at most things. If the main theory of this blog post is true, a similar thing could be said on the father’s side. Perhaps Dad being bad at things is due to his lack of experience and this led into his disappearance like “Neverrest” seemed to suggest. 

In Part 2 of my Association post, I theorized that Louie shares more in common with his father's general behavior based on Della leaning a bit more into Huey's end of the trio. This made me wonder if there could be a hidden piece of Launchpad's character where he's shown to be a capable smooth talker with a tendency to lie.

There’s a “someone gets captured” element of this episode that could tie-in with the idea of the father getting abducted. During the nighttime portion, the flock of seagulls who had previously flown away with one of the hotdog vests, gang up on Louie and try to fly away with him too. When Lena is captured, she sends out a distress message like the game she was playing earlier. I had theorized back in Part 6 that maybe the father had sent out a mayday for someone to help him and that Della received it before she left Earth. Lena describes Webby’s rescue plan as throwing herself in the middle of the Beagle Family but this comes off as greatly exaggerated. Webby didn’t put herself in the center of attention, she boarded the stage quietly and accidentally back into a couple of light switches. Lena’s description sounds more reminiscent of how Della hastily entered the storm in spite of the life-threatening danger it posed.

Lena’s role in general makes me wonder about my questions in Part 7 where I considered the thought of the father being somewhat of a bad guy. Was he doing someone else’s bidding? Was he unaware of the malicious intentions of his job until much later like Donald in “Woo-oo!”? Launchpad unintentionally works for the villain of the story in “The Duck Knight Returns!” and even questions whether he was doing the right thing before switching sides. Did this person or group of people the father was working for, prompt or possibly force him into making certain decisions? Did they cause him to leave Della and make it seem like he carelessly abandoned her? 

Lena also makes me wonder if the father isn't big on family either. The show has yet to provide us with information about Launchpad's, but in the original series episode, "Top Duck", he felt very inferior to them due to his constant crashing. Dating someone from such a prolific group of adventurers could have felt like a tough act to follow. Like Webby, maybe he didn't fit in, and this was an additional factor in wanting to prove himself.

Building off of an earlier point, I think the Beagle Family could have been loosely representing the cosmic storm. Lena describes the Junkyard party as a “blowout”, which gives off a visual of smoke clouds from an explosion. When Webby and Lena enter, they find themselves surrounded by a swarm of dangerous criminals. The crowd of siblings eventually get into a violent fight while a thick cloud of fog covers them. And the fight even takes place at night in an area decorated with celestial objects.

The rocket-shaped playground climber has got to be the most interesting and intentional element in this episode: 

• It’s nighttime, so the sky closely resembles outer space

• The Moon is featured above the rocket

• The structure is painted a soft, dark red

• HDL are inside of it like Della had originally planned to bring them with her

There could definitely be something symbolic going on with the inside of the climber as well. While Lena explains why the Beagle Boys are after her and Webby, we’re given a glimpse of what the control panel looks like. There’s a rectangle with four different colored buttons; the first row having a green one next to a red one and in the second row, a light blue one next to a purple one. Usually, whenever these colors are grouped together, (especially red, green and blue,) they have something to do with the main kids. There are a few glow-in-the-dark objects beside the rectangle; a yellow half-crescent Moon is placed close to the blue-purple row while a gray lightning bolt and lime green star are close to the green-red row.

If the blue-purple row is more than likely representing how Dewey and Webby spent Season 1 focused on Della’s mystery…is the green-red row hinting that Louie and Huey’s seasons will contain something important in solving their dad’s mystery?

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I’ve already talked a great deal about “House of The Lucky Gander!” in the past, so I’m gonna breeze by this episode with a short list of reminders and newer realizations:

• Gladstone calls for help when the family is on their way to witness the fulfillment of a prophecy

• It centers around a golden cricket that emerges every fifty years

• Its song is said to hold the answers to life’s greatest mysteries

• Some of which being the origin of life and one’s purpose in the universe

• This goal of the trip ends up being a bust as the cricket does not answer anything

• Donald and Scrooge see Gladstone negatively by describing him as being “the worst” and “a complete layabout”

• In the beginning of the episode, HDL describe Gladstone positively by calling him “charming”, “funny”, and the “coolest”

• He tends to brag about how his never-ending good luck rewards him with things he didn’t earn

• Gladstone pretends that everything’s ok but he’s secretly being watched

• The family later finds out that he’s being held captive by an immortal creature named Toad Liu Hai, who is taking advantage of his good luck
• He puts Donald and Gladstone through an obstacle course to determine who will be his prisoner for life

• Donald complains that coming over to the hotel to help Gladstone puts the family in danger

• After the challenge, the family is released from the hotel in a puff of smoke

• Scrooge has the same attitude about Macaw as he did about the tourist area in “Neverrest”

• He sees both of them as places full of empty distractions and would much rather spend time on the adventure he had planned

• His struggle to lead Huey, Dewey and Webby towards the hotel exit feels very similar to how the wormholes caused them to get lost and confused on the mountain

• Towards the end of the episode, Gladstone briefly reflects on his life of leisure
• He suddenly has the desire to work hard to rightfully deserve his earnings; to accomplish something meaningful and noble

Gladstone is soon greeted by a woman dressed in red on a golden ship. Like Ziyi, could she possibly be representing Della as well? 

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I don’t have a ton to say about “The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!” at the moment, but I will say this:

• The Lost Pyramid shares similarities with Tranquility

• Both are hidden civilizations

• The pyramid has a chamber full of gold and gold is Tranquility’s most prominent resource

• Both of its citizens eventually get to experience what the world is like beyond their domain

• The Lost Pyramid and Tranquility have interesting contrasts as well

• One environment is themed around the Sun while the other is themed around the Moon

• One environment is triangular-based with sharp edges while the other is circular

• In the opening shot, we see that Launchpad had crashed in the desert, near the pyramid

• This feels a little reminiscent of how Della crashed on the barren side of the Moon, but of course, this might be a stretch as Launchpad usually crashes everywhere

• Dewey’s excitement over wanting to see mummies more than likely paralleled him wanting to find more information on his mother

• Launchpad makes a joke that acknowledges the similarity between the words “mommies” and “mummies” while mentioning how he “would hate to see daddies”

• He attempts to tell this joke a second time but Scrooge silences him

• Amunet describes Toth-Ra as a god-king

• Gyro calls himself a god-king in “Game Night" 

• Zeus is king of the Greek gods

• Louie and Webby get separated from the group and land in the chamber full of gold

• After tricking the pharaoh’s servant, they find a secret passageway that leads them back to the chamber where they started

• The confusion about this feels similar to Neverrest’s wormholes and “Gander”s hotel 

• A prophecy about Toth-Ra was filled
• It promises a reward for those who serve him but also serves as a warning for those who cross him beyond a certain point

• When Webby isn’t able to translate the hieroglyphic message in full, she speculates it has something to do with a curse or being stuck in the sacred treasure room for all eternity

• Louie doesn’t take heed to any of this and proceeds to act recklessly

• The pharaoh’s servant scammed the other descendants into believing Toth-Ra was alive before the prophecy occurred

• He was pretending to be a great figure, something he wasn’t

• Louie starts to puppeteer the Pharaoh in a similar manner to get the descendants to turn on the servant and also requests for them to give him the sacred treasure 

• When Toth-Ra awakens, Launchpad saves Scrooge after being thrown by the pharaoh

• Shortly after catching him, LP crashes into a wall

• He is briefly knocked unconscious from a head injury

• Louie fails to talk Toth-Ra out of hurting him and surrenders by offering to become his humble servant

• When Louie makes a promise about “no more rule bending”, it reminds me a bit of Launchpad in “Day of the Only Child!”

• He claims he didn’t become a Junior Woodchuck troop leader by bending the rules, but based on what caused him to have this position, it wasn’t genuinely earned

• Webby saves Louie’s life by distracting Toth-Ra with a ray of light

• Launchpad’s ridiculous plan ends up being the most successful when it comes to defeating Toth-Ra

• Because of this, LP was rewarded with the Golden Khopesh of Toth-Ra

• Later in the season, it’s revealed in “Shadow War” that Louie cons the tool from LP

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I have a LOT more to say about “Terror of the Terra-Firmians!” this time around:

The story begins with the triplets, Webby and Lena walking out of the Avian Theater. They had just finished watching a horror movie about a species of shapeshifters called “mole men”, who are known for using their powers to steal identities and possess people. Lena, Webby and Dewey thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but Huey and Louie are left unimpressed. Huey’s gripe is that the movie didn’t feel believable enough, which leads into a discussion on the existence of a similar group of underground dwellers known as Terra-Firmians. Webby claims that these rock-creatures live directly below the city, but according to the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, they don’t exist at all. Lena breaks up their argument and suggests they head down a nearby subway station to find out for themselves.

The three kids leave the stairway and step into a dimly lit area with trash on the floor, graffiti markings on the walls and a missing dog poster on one of it’s pillars. Before the kids head any further, Huey freezes.

“Wait, shouldn’t we tell someone where we’re going, before we blindly explore a network of dark and abandoned subway tunnels?”

They then poorly attempt to notify the group by softly yelling up the stairs and continue on with their adventure. They follow a railroad path until they reach a sign that reads “CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS”. Webby states that this sign was put in place due to the train line being famous for Terra-Firmian sightings. A strong rumble suddenly shakes the tunnel and pries one of the train line doors open. Unable to resist this temptation, Lena further leads the kids into the darkness by the light of her phone. Along the way, Webby shares some background information from her secret files.

“The Terra-Firmians are an ancient race built of two warring tribes: the Terries and the Firmies! They were once united under a proud king. After the king’s untimely death, an epic battle began between who would assume control! But! One day, the rightful prince will reunite the two tribes and put an end to their bitter conflict.” 

The girls of the group begin to talk excitedly about meeting the Terra-Firmians with Webby wanting to sacrifice herself in the rebellion and Lena promising to avenge her afterwards. Huey still isn’t won over by the potential evidence they find and shifts his focus into getting his geology badge instead, which causes Webby to start bickering with him again. A yell is heard up ahead! Lena had walked off while they were arguing! The kids rush over to the direction of the sound and find a predominantly teal and green colored subway train; its side damaged with circular dents. The cart door mysteriously pops open for them. Was their friend captured by Terra-Firmians? There was only one way to find out…Webby and Huey carefully climb on board…to find a threatening message! But it was just Lena playing a prank on them.

Huey shakes off his frustration and takes a good look at his surroundings. It’s just an old, beat up train cart with Glomgold Industries advertisements. Nothing more, nothing less. He wants to go back to rock sampling but before any of them could get out, one of the doors break open and a shadowy figure slides in! As another one boards the cart, Huey throws a rock at them! The smaller figure responds in a familiar voice…oh! It’s just the rest of their group!  Mrs. Beakley had overheard Lena’s suggestion about checking out the subway station and led the rest into following them.

Mrs. B was already under the belief that Lena was a bad influence when she lied about the content of the mole men movie and this had only made her suspicions worse. It’s time for them to go home; Lena is no longer allowed to accompany their family. Before Webby can defend her friend, another loud rumble shakes the tunnel. This time, it’s strong enough to cause giant chunks of debris to fall from above. After the vibration dies down, Mrs. Beakley glances outside to discover the way they came in was now completely blocked off. They had to keep going down the train line to get back to the surface. She instructs Launchpad to fix things up in the control room and orders Lena to come help her detach the cart from the caboose that was destroyed in the cave-in.

Annoyed by Webby’s persistence on Terra-Firmians, Huey brings Louie into this and tries to get him to be on his side. Webby tries to convince both of them that the aftershocks they’ve been feeling are part of the lost prince’s revolt. She believes he’s using the terra-firmian games as a distraction to storm the Califermy Cinedale. Shortly after, a huge dent protrudes through the ceiling of the train cart. Webby excitedly rushes to the escape hatch in hopes to meet the prince for herself. Huey urges her not to put her life in danger, but Webby is very eager to prove her point.

"Ah, this could be it! This could be the prince! THIS COULD BE…a rock?!”

Huey follows after her and points out that it was just a result of the cave-in; she can come back into the cart now. But Webby isn’t fazed.

“Just because this is only a rock, doesn’t mean there aren’t Terra-Firmians still out there!” 

“So we’re supposed to examine every rock in this tunnel?”

As Huey argues about how ridiculous that would be, Beakley struggles to free the bolt connecting them to the crushed cart. Instead of helping her out, Lena fiddles around on her phone and provides snarky remarks. Scrooge’s housekeeper quickly grows tired of this.

"Do not mouth off to me! It’s your fault we’re in this mess! Who raised you?”

Being seen as nothing but a negative influence bothers Lena and motivates her to show Beakley that she’s not that bad of a person. As Lena tugs at the bolt with a crowbar, Huey declares once and for all, that the rock wasn’t a Terra-Firmian. It was just a stupid boulder…that sudden disappeared?! Huey tries to figure out a logical reason for this…one of his suggestions being a sudden wormhole.

This not only feels reminiscent of their experience during "Neverrest", but it also reminds me of how fans were theorizing that Della travelled through a wormhole before "Happened to Della" debuted. 

Louie, who had joined Webby and Huey at the top of the cart to watch them argue, brings their attention to the blocked off portion of the tunnel. Rolling atop the rubble, were a bunch of red-eyed creatures. They stare back at the kids for a moment, but then roll away. Before the trio could speculate, the train lights suddenly turn on! Beakley and Lena had disconnected the damaged cart in time before the vehicle began to move. The two catch up to the train and hop on as a group of multi-colored rocks zoom pass them. 

The three rocks roll up to the ceiling of the tunnel and end up crashing on the end of Huey, Webby and Louie’s cart. This causes the kids to slide over to the dented side and bump into one of the rocks. The rock unravels into one of the red-eyed creatures! They scream! Too full of fear to realize that the creature was screaming back at them. They scramble back into the cart and watch the roof get dented as the creature bounces to the front of the train. The machine is then brought to a screeching halt that sends its passengers flying in all sorts of directions.

The crash leaves Mrs. Beakley unconscious, stuck under a cart and leaves Lena struggling to pull it off of her. Magica appears in Lena’s shadow and encourages her to just leave Beakley there, but the teen can’t bring herself to do that. Lena acts fast as the sound of bouncing echoes through the caves. She takes out her amulet, uses its power to lift the train cart and pulls Beakley to safety. As Lena walks backwards, she trips over some rubble. This breaks her concentration and causes the train cart to fall out of her grasp! But she’s already moved Beakley close enough for one last pull to keep the metal structure from landing on her. As the dust settles, Mrs. B comes to and realizes Lena had saved her. The teenager doesn’t want to dwell on the moment. She hurries to put away her amulet and insists on moving ahead.

Further down the tunnel, Huey, Webby and Louie are having some train cart trouble of their own: their beat up cart is slowly being crushed by a broken fixture from the outside. Webby finds Huey cowering next to the flashing emergency light. She tries to coerce him into leaving with her and Louie, but he doesn’t want to. His guidebook states that he’s safer this way. He’s still unwilling to believe in Terra-Firmians. If the book was wrong about their existence, then what other scary things could be out there that he isn’t aware of? Webby extends her hand to him and offers to help him face the unknown. Huey finds comfort in this proposal and jumps with them out of the metal structure before it’s completely destroyed.

The three are soon reunited with the rest of their group: Lena and Mrs. Beakley arrive from the back of the tunnel while Dewey and Launchpad arrive from the front of it. Since the beginning of the episode, the mole man movie had put Launchpad on edge. It had convinced him into believing these were real creatures that could be anyone or anywhere. This led him into ripping up a poster, damaging the theater’s Men’s Room and caused him to think Dewey is secretly one of their kind. When Beakley asked Launchpad to get to the control room on the subway train, he pretended to need Dewey’s help and instructed the triplet to come along with him; grabbing a plumbing pipe just in case Dewey tried to attack. 

As he fixed the controls, he held a conversation citing how wary he was of his best friend being a mole monster. When the lights were activated, they burned Dewey’s eyes and sent Launchpad into a panic. He locked the kid out of the room and got the engine started. The red-eyed creature from earlier had also scared him and caused him to crash the train. Just when he thought he had gotten rid of both monsters, Dewey popped out of a pile of rubble, gasping for air! The pilot desperately tried to defend himself and pleaded for Dewey to leave him alone. The triplet tried to get LP to calm down by reminding him about being his best friend and how everything in the movie was made-up but LP perceived this as typical mole deception. Dewey then brought up a major flaw in this claim.

“By that logic, how do you know you’re not a mole monster?”

Launchpad immediately got defensive and declared that he wasn’t…but isn’t that how a mole monster would react? This sent him into a moment of literal self-reflection.

“Wait…am I a mole monster? But I’m a good guy! Then that means…mole monsters can also be good guys!"

With this, he embraced his newly found identity and now wants to show that he and Dewey can be a positive force in the world. Huey glances ahead of the two and sees a light at the end of the tunnel. A way out! He excitedly rushes past them only to be met with the red-eyed creature from earlier! This surprise causes him to fall backwards and crawl away from the monster. As his brothers and friends come over to his side, a group of colorful boulders rush to their own friend as well. The opposing sides stare at each in hesitation for a short while until the red monster bounced forward into the light…

It was a Terra-Firmian! Webby was right about their existence! And they weren’t as scary as the kids originally thought. As the other boulders come into the light, the ducks realize that they’re very similar to themselves. Huey assumes that the red Terra-Firmian is The Lost Prince and the rest are his rebel force while The Lost Prince’s assumptions about the kids closely resemble this.

Seeing that the ducks were nothing to be afraid of, the friendly rock creatures decided to smash an exit for them before rolling away. As the group begins to climb out of the cave, Huey apologizes to Webby…after logging information about the Terra-Firmians in his guidebook. Mrs. Beakley snaps Launchpad out of his belief of being a mole monster and then apologizes to Lena about being quick to judge her. Magica quietly confronts her niece over her decision to save the housekeeper instead of leaving her but the teenager informs her that she only did it to win her trust. Now that Beakley’s guard was down, she wouldn’t be suspicious of their secret plan.

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The lost Terra-Firmian prince returning was part of a prophecy, like the snow storm on the Drake Barrier reef and perhaps, the cosmic storm. The scene where the prince and his rebel force are paralleling the duck kids seems to imply that something similar to the legend could be occurring on their behalf as well. There is a missing person and Webby jumps into danger to meet him in spite of Huey’s warnings. Della’s disappearance tore the family apart and while they assumed she was dead, she later returned. 

Another comparison that can be drawn from "Terror” and the two weather occurrences are the earthquakes created by the Terra-Firmians. The rumbles are very similar to thunder in a storm and take place in an area that’s far away from ground level. Placed within this earthquake hotspot, is an abandoned teal and green subway train sponsored by Glomgold Industries. I’ve talked in the past about how color can sometimes be used to express an association between the characters or items that share them and Glomgold has had two palettes that share similarities with Launchpad in an episode focused on amnesia.

The predominantly green vehicle is later destroyed further down the tunnel due to a Terra-Firmian causing the driver to crash. This is a bit like how Della’s predominantly red vehicle is further destroyed after the moon mite drags it underground. In both situations, the characters are faced with creatures who they assume to be monsters, until they get to know them better and then end up helping the other out. So, with the earthquake resembling a storm and mythical creatures being the cause of it, could there have been some sort of monster in the cosmic storm? Did it cause the storm to happen? And could it have attacked the father while he was in there?

Launchpad was VERY traumatized by the mole monster movie. So much that he was willing to harm his best friend to protect himself. When he starts freaking out over Dewey, he screams “EVERYTHING I’VE EVER SEEN IN A MOVIE IS REAL!”. On one hand, this seems to say that Launchpad now believes in the events that happened in other movies he’s seen but on the other hand, could this be implying that he’s had previous encounters with other creatures that were supposed to be made-up? The little glimpses of Launchpad’s dating history alone shows us that he’s been in many different places and abnormal situations, so it’s very likely.

I think there might be other indications to support that his behavior was stemmed by an event in his past. Looking back at the posters on the storefront of the theater, the poster for the movie they watched says that it’s "based on an actual true novel”. It kinda wants you to believe the story really happened but at the same time, it undercuts itself by acknowledging its source material doesn’t extend past the book it was adapted from. In a way, it’s almost as if it’s holding back on the importance of the film by obscuring its legitimacy. The poster was placed next to another poster with an alien and a few people getting abducted into UFOs in the background. Launchpad stood in front of it during his paranoia about other people passing by before considering Dewey. 

I’ve talked about alien abduction in the past by mentioning Issue 18’s plot and pointing out the history of LP’s space travels in previous shows. The fact that these posters are next to each other seem to further suggest that there’s a connection between the subject matter in both films. Seeing how both the mole men and the moon mite were burrowing creatures, could the alien or aliens that attacked the father be based on another type of burrowing creature? Snakes often live in burrows and another thing I’ve been wondering about the snake trap from “Woo-oo!”, is if it was possibly hinting towards his attack. After getting bit multiple times, the snake venom made Launchpad pass out for a short moment and then introduced himself as if his mind was reset. This could coincide with the space incident resulting in amnesia.

In "Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!", she vented to her kids about the difficulties of adventuring. First, she mentioned a cursed idol and then she talked about her predicament on the Moon. Could both of these instances be related in a sequence of events? Did something similar happen to the father in Space where he activated a cursed item he had with him?

If he didn’t get abducted, were the movie posters set up this way to express his Space connection? How he’s alien-like for being a mutant? I’ve talked about how “Terror”s monster stuff seems to have started a trend and how it would end up circling back to LP in some way since he’s the one who started it. At first, I wondered if it was figurative for unintentionally abandoning his kids but after considering his mutation, I started to wonder if he was more of a literal monster. As the tagline of the movie says, “They could be anyone!”. Teal and green were some of the most prominent colors for the transforming mole man depicted in the poster and if mole monsters can also be good guys…then doesn’t that mean good guys can also be mole monsters? Launchpad grows very comfortable with the idea of being a monster.

I think there could be room for a role reversal where Dewey (or maybe Huey) could accuse Launchpad of being something monster-like while Launchpad denies it. Perhaps there are certain abilities that he’s completely unaware of and that makes it harder to believe LP is the source of anything strange going on. If he’s powerful enough, could he go into an unconscious state? Could he reach a point where he can’t control himself? This reminds me a little about how I theorized over the possibility of Launchpad being manipulated by possession like Lena or Storkules. Also, similarly to Lena, this episode makes me wonder if Launchpad will save someone with his powers to prove that he can still be a good person in spite of his past. If the heart of my theory is correct, saving Della would make for a fitting parallel.

Could there be a middle ground between these monster speculations? What if he was attacked by something and this caused him to be like one of the creatures? This sounds a lot like something werewolf-based and Webby does mention a wereduck in the beginning of the episode. Having Launchpad reveal that he's dated a wereduck in "Gandra", associates him with this concept and draws a closer connection between himself and the Moon. The fact that he was bitten by a pile of snakes could be an indication of a monster bite too.

One more thing “Terror” makes me wonder about is Huey and Webby’s argument. During my latest viewing, it suddenly made me think about the one Donald and Della were shown having in “Last Crash”. Could there be something reflecting the Spear situation here? In Part 6 of my Association post, I originally believed that Della never told her family about the father, but what if Donald knew about him and already wasn’t fond of him when Della implied her search? What if she didn’t have a clear idea of exactly where the father was? Space is way too vast; the guy could be anywhere. Now was not the best time to go around, blindly inspecting every planet. What if they never found him? What if they risked their lives and time for nothing? If Donald knew, he was probably convinced that the father was dead and encouraged Della to give up on him, but she was still hopeful and wanted to at least try to do something.

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For the longest time, I had a feeling that there was some sort of underlying importance in “McMystery at McDuck McManor!” and now I think I have a better idea of what we were being told:

• This episode is centered around someone’s birthday

• Mrs. Beakley, Webby and Donald are all leaving on this birthday like how Della left somewhere around HDL’s

• Beakley implies that Scrooge’s birthday was a reminder of something unfortunate 

• Some contributing factors towards his rule against birthday parties may be his regret over preparing the rocket for the triplets’ birthday and that it reminded him of Duckworth’s death

• Huey wants to do something special for Scrooge’s birthday to show how much he loves him

• The triplet also wants to prove himself as a better party planner than Duckworth in the process

• When Scrooge goes missing, Huey is laser-focused on solving the mystery and giving his great-uncle the best birthday experience ever

• Louie is more concerned about Scrooge’s well-being and scolds his brother for not treating the situation more seriously

• Huey still cares about his family, but his obsession over throwing a great party prevents him from putting things into perspective

• Huey’s desire to do something extraordinary for Scrooge during a celebratory event, feels a little reminiscent of “Last Christmas” where Della wants to give him “the best Christmas ever”

• Huey argues about his brothers messing up his plans

• As things get even more hectic, he expresses regret for ignoring Scrooge’s request

• In the earlier portion of the episode, there are two people missing: one of them is dead and the whereabouts of the other are uncertain

• Towards the latter portion of the episode, the dead character comes back in a different form and the other character is found alive

• If it wasn’t for the dead character, the living character would have never gone missing

• Black Arts Beagle’s visual theme is very space-like

•  His stage name, Nik Nokturne, comes from the work “nocturnal’

• His set-up contains string lights and a banner that has a full moon with a graveyard

• Black Arts is a magician known for making things disappear

• Scrooge went missing after going into Nik’s abyss box like Della went missing after going into Space

• Scrooge describes space as “the inky abyss” in his “Last Crash” flashback

• Neither of them are as far as expected after their disappearances

• Scrooge’s disappearance is joined with a flash of light

• Most of Black Arts’ acts are accompanied with cloudy formations 

• The clouds later engulf him in a swirling vortex as he starts to float with glowing eyes

• Multiple villains were invited to the party

• The threats aren’t recognized at first because they’re concealing their true identities

• Glomgold is dressed in Greek clothing and is described as “Someone who hates Scrooge more than anyone”

• When the lights went out, he rushed to the abyss box so he wouldn’t miss his chance to give Scrooge his “birthday gift”, but McDuck had already disappeared

• Some of the accusations and intentions mentioned were

• To rob Scrooge during his absence

• Hacking the security cameras to erase evidence 

• To take advantage of the chaos 

• To take Scrooge now, then to kill him later

• The guy who was deemed as a fraud and the least powerful threat, ended up being behind something serious

• Huey later finds out that Duckworth took Scrooge away because Huey’s party was endangering him

• The kid apologizes as he made this more about himself instead of thinking what would be best for his uncle

• Even though things didn’t go as planned, Scrooge still managed to have the best birthday ever

• If Huey had listened about not throwing the party, Black Arts would have never brought Duckworth’s spirit back

Duckworth's ram skull has a crack in it, implying some sort of head trauma.

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I’ve mentioned a few things about “The Missing Links of Moorshire!” a few times in the past, but I think there are some other things about this episode worth mentioning alongside them:

• As we can gather straight from the title, something is missing and leads the characters to a secret realm

• The Druid stones are set in the formation of a circle and radiate some sort of magical electricity

• Electrical shocks come from the provided golf balls if you don’t use the wooden clubs

• Interestingly enough, the golf balls have the same-colored glow as the jewels of Atlantis

• Glomgold has the red ball like he had the fake red jewel, and Scrooge has the blue one like the real jewel

• The real jewel was powerful enough to provide Duckburg with fifty years' worth of energy

• When the golf ball enters the hole, it’s suddenly transported to another part of the course; much like the characters themselves when they enter the Druid stone circle

• The mist is dangerous and so are the kelpies that reside within it

• The mist turns failed golf players into stone

• While the kelpies did not exactly display this characteristic in the episode, their species is known for shapeshifting

• The closest we have to this is when Briar tried to use Webby’s voice to trick Scrooge

• Huey saves Launchpad before the kelpies are able to carry him off into their aquatic environment 

• There’s a golden treasure at the end of the course

• Winning the treasure will earn them the title of being "the finest golfer in every plane of reality”

• Upon entering the realm, Dewey questions if he and his group have died

• After Glomgold fires his golf caddie, he convinces Louie to become his new one

• The idea of Louie working for Glomgold is similar to how Donald worked for him in the pilot episode

• This presents us with another example of Louie working with the bad guys

• When Glomgold gloats about Scrooge’s own nephew abandoning him and losing support from his family, this is reflective of what happened when Donald moved out of the mansion

• As always, Glomgold is a bragging fraud, out to prove his worth

• Scrooge and Dewey are two characters playing on the same team with contrasting levels of experience

• Having played golf for years, Scrooge tries to share his method with Dewey to help him get started but Dewey quickly grasps the concept of the game and develops a less traditional style 

• Scrooge is surprised by how well Dewey is doing; causing his ego to be threatened and ability to play, to be hindered 

• When Louie’s outburst causes Scrooge to hit the ball into the forest, he doesn’t want to admit to Glomgold that he made a mistake

• Glomgold jokingly assumes that Scrooge was taking a shortcut

• The object Scrooge was after, fell into the ring of stones

• When he steps further into the circle, they’re activated, and this sends the group to the faerie realm

• Once their lives are at stake, Scrooge doesn’t trust Dewey’s reckless method to win the game and bring them home safely

• At the same time, he also doesn’t like the idea of Dewey being better than him

• Dewey is confident that he can make one of the more difficult holes and snatches Scrooge’s golf club to do so

• Scrooge is furious that Dewey would disobey him to make such a life-threatening risk

• Scrooge accuses Dewey of showboating but the triplet fires back by pointing out his uncle’s selfish fear of being surpassed

• As the mist creeps in on the golfing team, Scrooge comes to the realization that he can’t make the shot and encourages Dewey to take it instead

• In “Last Crash”, Scrooge claims to have talked Della through the storm, but in “Happened to Della”, we only see him telling her to turn around

• Could he have lied? Did he feel bad about being unsupportive?

• Was it due to a poor connection?

• Dewey tried to keep Scrooge’s instructions in mind, but his panic made him rely on his own instincts

• The action of going out on a whim, ended up saving them all

• Their bodies were restored to flesh after becoming stone; an example of transformation

• Scrooge and Dewey were the first players to win and survive the ordeal

• Launchpad starts out very confused about sports, but when he gets closer to the Druid stones and enters the secret realm, his intelligence seems to become heightened; like he has this underlying awareness or familiarity

• He was the first to point out that the stones were magical

• While acknowledging this, he describes Scrooge’s accidental shot as "Risky, but it paid off.”

• The same could be said for Dewey’s actions to win the game

• Was Della’s or the father’s risk end up being worth it?

• It’s possible that this is an irrelevant detail, but Launchpad returns to the golf cart when Huey describes Scrooge as “the returning champion”

• Makes me wonder if the father succeeded with whatever his goal was before coming back home

• When the waterfall blocks Glomgold’s shot, Launchpad says “Aw, should’ve seen that coming.” as if he expected something like that was going to happen

• When they come back home, Launchpad takes the time to explain the lesson Scrooge learned about letting go of his ego, but his intelligence seems to take a decline straight afterwards as he starts eating golf balls

• This joke passes Launchpad’s insightfulness as unimportant; as if we’re not supposed to pay attention to this side of his character

• The vehicle LP is driving gets stuck in between the Druid stones

• It gets cut in half when the stones transport them and slowly falls apart as the episode continues

• Launchpad gets hit in the head with the club when it slips out of Scrooge’s hand

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The episode “Jaw$” was centered around a mission to save Dewey due to Lena carrying out one of Magica’s plans:

• There was a secret trip to the Money Bin that resulted in Dewey getting swallowed by a money shark

• Webby wants to tell Scrooge about this but Louie is scared of the consequences of sneaking into the bin without permission and Lena suggests that it would be best to handle it themselves

• Donald’s houseboat and Scrooge’s helicopter are stolen to save someone stuck in a sea of gold

• Both are driven by an airplane pilot

• The vehicles get damaged in the process 

• Although this is expected with Launchpad, there were multiple instances involving crashing

• Scrooge’s bin gets depleted because of the event

• LP steers the houseboat straight towards the dangerous threat much like Della steered the Spear straight towards the storm

• Launchpad’s friendship with Dewey is highlighted

• He sensed that Dewey was in trouble before the kids even bothered to ask him for help

• When Huey and Louie are eaten by the money shark, LP simply refers to them as “Dewey’s Brothers”

• Even though all three of the brothers are inside the shark, Launchpad only talks about seeking revenge for Dewey

• After Webby hugs Lena for saving her, Launchpad pushes by Huey and Louie to hug Dewey

• In a parental manner, he demands Dewey to never get eaten by a money shark ever again

• A little later, he brings the other brothers in for a hug as well

• Lena had placed the Hunter’s Stone in a pile of newly earned riches that were sent to the Money Bin

• It will search for Scrooge’s Number One Dime and give it to Lena to free Magica

• Magica reveals that The De Spells have had a long-time feud with the McDuck family

• Lena only agreed to do Magica’s bidding in the first place because she was promised her fondest desire in return 

• Lena states that her friendship with Webby is just an act

• Magica warns Lena not to trust Webby or the McDuck family because they will turn on her if they find out what she really is

• The episode takes place predominantly at night and Magica brings attention to the upcoming lunar eclipse

• While explaining why Scrooge hates magic, Webby says that he thinks magic is a supernatural shortcut for hard work

• Lena uses the friendship bracelet Webby made for her in a tactic to secure Webby’s trust, but it later causes her to reflect on her actions

• Webby mistakes the tactic as sincerity and uses the bracelets to test the power of their friendship

• Magica gets the feeling that Lena is trying to help the group to destroy the shark and calls her a “sentimental fool”

• When Webby decides to use the bracelets as magical totems, Lena flings this insult at her 

• She complains that Webby doesn’t know what she’s doing and that her plan was going to get them killed

• The bracelets become charged by Lena’s magic during Webby’s chant

• Lena starts to glow because of this but disrupts the spell before Webby can notice

• Webby questions whether Lena thinks their friendship is magical enough

• Magica mentions that the dangerous money shark will accumulate mass as it continues to hunt for the dime

• Once the dime ends up in the money shark’s mouth, Magica reminds Lena about the reward she was promised

• Lena constantly brings up her concerns over being eaten but Magica could care less about her niece’s well-being 

• Webby on the other hand, pushes Lena out of the way after the shark lunges at her

• Despite this, the shark still gets Lena into its mouth 

• Before it’s able to swallow Webby, the teen asks “Why’d you save me? I thought you were mad at me!”

• Webby responds “We’re friends, you beautiful idiot! I don’t care what you did!”

• It becomes clear that Webby cares more about her than Magica does

• And so, Lena decides to return the favor by using the friendship chant to destroy the money shark instead of grabbing the dime

• This presents us with another example of Lena using her powers to save someone

• Back at the Greek theater, Magica continues to brush-off Lena’s well-being and complains that her niece cared more about her friends than she did about her own family

• Lena gets tired of her aunts daunting tasks and wants out of the deal, but Magica refuses to let her go

• Only Magica is able to give Lena the freedom she desires and if she wants it, she has to let go of her loyalty to her friends

• After multiple complaints about Scrooge’s adventures causing harm to the city, the board schedules an interview for him to help boost his character

• During the interview, Roxanne Featherly claims that Scrooge cares more about profit that other people’s lives

• Scrooge heavily disagrees with this and believes he does far more good than harm for Duckburg

• Scrooge’s diving suit from “Woo-oo!” is in view

• As his anger towards Glomgold further puts him in a negative light, reports about the money shark breaking free from the bin interrupt the interview

• Scrooge accidentally becomes a hero as he is unable to recollect his treasures before others are able to take it for themselves

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“Sky Pirates…in the Sky!” opens up with the family heading home from their adventure in South America. Dewey is eager to share the epic tale of how he acquired his colorful hat, but everyone else is already busy with their own things. Feeling ignored, Dewey climbs on top of some crates to give himself a stage to tell his story, but this only results in Scrooge getting irritated and ordering his nephew to take a seat on the side of the plane. Not long after, a grappling hook harpoons the Sunchaser. They were being raided! 

Don Karnage leads his crew into a song and dance number about life "high up in the sky amidst a sea of storm and thunder”. The captain is described as a “frustratingly charming" braggart with the intention to “steal all of your treasure and your heart”. When the pirates make their departure, Scrooge and the kids are left confused. They then notice that Launchpad is suddenly next to them, applauding the performance instead of piloting the plane. The Sunchaser takes a dive into the trees below and gets tangled in a clump of thick vines.

While Scrooge instructs the family on making repairs and keeping track of inventory, Dewey manages to slip away while no one’s paying attention. His hat was stolen by the sky pirates during their song and now he was determined to get it back. He spies one of the crew members hastily taking off and secretly hitches a ride on the back wheel; immediately regretting it as the biplane ascends to an uncomfortable height. Once the pirate lands inside of The Iron Vulture, Dewey hides as Don Karnage criticizes his troupe on the quality of their performance. It reaches a point where the captain throws one of the pirates overboard and snatches Dewey’s hat off of their head in the process. 

Dewey quickly grabs his hat after Don throws it on top of the stolen treasure pile, but it’s quickly stolen right back off when he’s noticed by the pirates. They tie up the young stowaway and prepare the sky sharks to take care of him. Once that plan fails, Don orders a pair of pirates named Peg Leg Meg and Ugly Mug to keep watch over Dewey as he plots a new demise. The kid tries to reason with them by letting them know that he’s only here to get his hat back. The two pirates become intrigued by the hat and demand Dewey to tell them where he got it from. Dewey’s face begins to light up. He finally had someone to share his story with! 

He goes into detail about how he was climbing Mt. Peligroso in Pato Pisco. Once he had conquered the treacherous mountain, he was met with a rainbow-colored alpaca who was waiting for the arrival of the chosen one! To reward him for his journey, she used her own wool to create his colorful chullo. A large majority of the crew had gathered to listen to the tale and applauded him once it was over. They longed to stand out like the chosen one, it was tiresome to have their hard work go unappreciated all the time. Dewey lifts their spirits with compliments and questions why they allow such a jerk like Don Karnage boss them around in the first place. This encourages the group to band together against their captain and send him off the plank.

Don Karnage lands safely in the jungle with his parachute and plots immediate revenge against Dewey. He soon notices that the Sunchaser is stuck in the trees ahead. Knowing that he’s the last person they’d want to see right now, he decides to disguise himself as a plant scientist. He tells Scrooge and the gang that Don stole his research and needs their help to get it back. They see straight through his disguise but agree to help him in order to retrieve their stolen treasure.

Back on The Iron Vulture, Dewey wraps up a dance routine he created with the crew. He believes it’s time for him to go, but the pirates are enjoying his leadership so much that they want him to be their new captain! Dewey realizes how much he’s enjoying this too. He liked how the crew was giving him so much appreciation in return for his support. And with that, Dewey decides to take on his new role. Their first order of business is to flaunt their new performance in front of the people who ignored him.

The pirates are having so much fun standing out (among the clouds) during their reprise, that it starts to irritate Dewey when they take the attention away from him.

The song ends with The Iron Vulture swallowing the Sunchaser and tying the family up. Dewey comes up to the family to see if they’re finally impressed with him, but they didn’t even notice he was gone. Dewey can’t believe this! He gets frustrated and proclaims that he’s permanently staying with the crew.

“Let them go and give them back their tainted treasure! 

If they can’t remember me, I don’t want to remember them.”

The rest of the pirates were confused by this. Peg Leg Meg suggests pirate-y ways to dispose of his family but Dewey snaps back; still feeling irritated by how she cut him off in their performance from earlier. This makes the crew notice how Dewey was starting to sound like their previous captain…

The pirates prepare themselves to throw Dewey and his family off the plank as a thunderstorm is brewing. Before they can do so, Don Karnage, who had snuck off the plane during the arguing, emerges from the crowd and reveals himself. He makes up with his troupe by claiming that he only pushes them so that they can do better. While they’re distracted, Dewey tries to untie his family and begins to explain how he just wanted attention. The group feels guilty and apologizes that they drove Dewey to this point. They then come up with a plan to outwit the pirates, take back their treasure and escape. Once they’re far away from The Iron Vulture, Scrooge returns Dewey’s hat from the treasure pile and encourages him to tell his story again.

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As the first season was premiering, I had often wondered if Dewey’s constant desire for attention was mirroring something Della went through before she went missing. I mean, she’s the least recognized out of her adventuring trio and there are so many comparisons being made between her and the middle child. But after we got to know Della’s personality, we found out that she’s more of a pleaser than someone who seeks for attention. While this trait doesn’t match up well for Della, it begs the question whether this could be something reflecting the father instead. Launchpad is another character Dewey shares similarities with and he has lamented in “Beware of the B.U.D.D.Y System!” about constantly being ignored. 

When Dewey is explaining to his family about how he wanted attention, Scrooge and the kids look at each other, then up at Launchpad and he sadly turns his head away. This action is a bit hard to read...is he disappointed in Dewey? Does he feel guilty about making Dewey feel ignored? Or is bringing the focus on Launchpad like this a subtle hint to express that the father was also a troubled attention-seeker?

Della may not recognize Launchpad, but if my theory is true, there’s bound to be certain traits and themes that resurface in his current identity and with the boys. So, what if the father wanted attention so badly, that he ended up siding himself with a bad group of people? Did they help to give him the validation he wanted? Did they cause him to steal? Was something stolen from him? Did he have to stowaway somewhere to get it back?

Something else that could support the notion that the father stole something was Louie’s side plot with the Sapphire of Souls. Webby gets Louie into believing that the blue gem that he had stored away from the pirates has the power to reflect your innermost thoughts and desires. He wants to keep it for himself but Webby states that Scrooge has been seeking the sapphire for decades. Louie then wonders if Scrooge will reward him with it if he pretends to find it. At the end of the episode, Louie announces that he’s a hero after risking his personal safety to save the sapphire, but Scrooge has no idea what his nephew is talking about. It turns out that Webby had tricked him for cutting her off earlier during her explanation about a treasure Duckachuquack stole. Could the father have been tricked into stealing something that ended up being worthless? Could Dad have stolen a decoy like Louie did in “Dime Chase’’? What if he grabbed a cursed decoy like Glomgold did in the pilot episode?

There was a thunderstorm and a comparison that connected this type of occurrence to the sea, so how much of this could possibly be related to the cosmic storm? Sky sharks were intended to be released in this “sea” and previously, there was a money shark swimming around in a sea of coins.  Could the father have faced shark-like creatures? Or did the money shark more than likely represent the storm itself? Similarly to The Iron Vulture, it opened up and swallowed the vehicle and the pilot inside. If Don Karnage’s ship also represents the storm, then is the duel implying that there was a fight or struggle of some sort between the father and someone else? Don Karnage masquerades as a different person after falling and wasn’t very good at being a scientist. Could this have been loosely mirroring what happened to Launchpad when he came into his new identity?

Launchpad sneaks into the Plane as Don Karnage says, "Come back here and DIE!" to one of the kids. Also, while this is happening, Webby begins her Dewey impression with "I'm sweet, sensitive and full of secrets!"

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“The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!” begins with Launchpad wildly driving Scrooge’s jeep through the misty moors of Scotland.  Huey questions his uncle about their mysterious trip. Where were they going? What was so dangerous about their destination that they were given vague warnings? What was so secretive about it that they had to sneak out behind Donald’s back? Once the car crashes into the statue in front of an old castle, Scrooge finally explains:

“Every five years, the mists of Dismal Downs part enough to reveal the home of the Lost Treasure of the Knight’s Templar. Brace yourselves kids, primordial menace lurks here. The most treacherous terror I’ve ever faced.”

At that moment, an elderly duck steps out of the building yelling for the jeep’s removal from his driveway. His wife walks alongside him. It’s Scrooge’s parents! A long time ago, their son used some Druid stones to recreate their ancestral castle. This cursed them with immortality and put a hold on their aging process. Scrooge’s father, Fergus, knows that his son is only here to collect the treasure rather than spending time with his family. Because of this, he doesn’t believe Scrooge is worthy of knowing its hiding place.

Meanwhile, Dewey is curious to know if their ancestral castle contains additional information about his mother. He has yet to tell his brothers about his research and plans to continue this in private. While Scrooge’s mother, Downey, gives the kids a tour of a hallway, she mentions how Sir Swamphole McDuck built a series of tunnels beneath the castle to store his treasure and summoned a demon dog to protect it. As the boys venture further down the hallway on their own, they come across a humorous portrait of their Uncle Donald as a child. Their laughter causes Huey to bump into the painting and reveals a suspicious letter taped to the back of it. 

As they start to wonder if this message could lead them to the lost treasure, Downey calls out for the boys. Dewey insists for his brother’s to distract her while he puts the painting back into place. With Huey and Louie out of sight, Dewey pulls up a picture of the farewell letter Della left behind. It’s a match! Could this be the key to finding her? When his brothers return, Huey is eager to figure out what the riddle is leading to, but Dewey wants to solve it for himself to prevent his brothers from discovering any bad news. He tries to downplay the importance of the letter but this only causes Louie to think he just wants the treasure for himself. When that fails, Dewey starts a race with them to hopefully get them off his trail but Huey figures out the first clue and draws him back to the group. Every time Dewey continues to encourage his brothers to give up, they keep proving themselves to be useful in solving the mystery.

The message eventually leads them below the castle and into The Crypt of Clan McDuck. They find an archway with Donald’s name on it and realize that the riddle was meant for him to solve! Why would the writer want him to send him to his grave? To Dewey’s dismay, Huey and Louie push the door open to find answers. When they do, a duffel bag with a teal scarf set in front of them on top of a casket.  A big, vicious canine with glowing green eyes suddenly runs towards the boys. It’s the demon dog! They slam the door in time to keep it from coming in. Huey quickly plans to use the scarf inside the bag as a distraction. Before he could light it on fire, Dewey snatches it back. Huey and Louie interrogate his brother about his reaction towards the accessory until he finally blurts out his secret. 

“Because it belongs to Mom!”

The dog begins to attack the door; prompting Huey to rush over to the archway to hold the creature off. He then asks Dewey if he’s certain about Della’s belongings. This causes Dewey to expose his investigation and leaves his brothers feeling very betrayed. Dewey tries to explain why he kept quiet about his findings.

“Okay! It’s just…first I didn’t want you to get hurt. Then I couldn’t tell you because I found out all of this stuff and I didn’t want you to hurt me! I’m sorry okay?!”

This does nothing to calm his brothers. Huey is convinced that Dewey did this to feel special and that he’s only “sorry” for getting caught. The wooden door gives way, and the dog comes rushing in! The triplets avoid the creature and escape into the base of the crypt. Their panic causes them to split up in separate tunnels. Dewey runs desperately as the dog follows his path. He calls his brothers for help and apologizes for excluding them. Before the dog can bite him, Huey and Louie come to his rescue using wooden planks and rocks to ward the beast off. Together, they gather up the courage to yell at the dog and scare it off for good…with the help of their ghostly ancestors.

 Above the catacombs, Scrooge’s plan to prove himself as a worthy recipient of the Templar Treasure fails miserably. He attended dinner with his parents to show he’s a great family man, but it only results in arguing with his father. He gives up on getting help from Fergus and sets out to find the treasure on his own. Feeling around the castle walls causes him to find a button to a secret passageway. Just when he thought he’d be able to do this without his father knowing, the elderly duck was already waiting for him behind the stone door. 

Scrooge’s anger towards his father grows as they approach a stone chamber with the Knights Templar insignia caved on the front. He begins to remove the moss with a rock, but Fergus snatches it out of his hand to correct his method. This causes Scrooge to have another outburst.

“Just stop! I don’t need you! Everything I earned, I earned through my own hard work. You never gave me anything!”

Fergus brings attention to Scrooge’s Number One Dime and reveals that he was the one who gave it to him. When Scrooge was a young shoeshine, his father muddied a civilian’s boots and provided them with the American dime to pay Scrooge. He wanted to teach his son a lesson in self-reliance, but Scrooge became heavily focused on seeking his fortune and distanced himself from his parents. Fergus just wanted to spend time with his son again. Scrooge is softened by this revelation and the two step forward to hug.

Doing so, presses a couple of brick buttons on the ground and opens the chamber! The relatives enter together and open the treasure chest…to find a rolled up piece of paper? Fergus unravels it to find out that this was a cruel prank set up by his father, Dirty Dingus. He didn’t think his son earned it, so the treasure was hidden elsewhere. This sends Fergus in a similar fit of frustration that Scrooge was in earlier. 

Back in the crypt, the boys discover that Della’s letter was also an elaborate prank and laugh it off. Dewey regrets keeping secrets and wants to be more open from now on. They should be working together; no matter how bad things get. Huey suddenly gets the idea to rub the back of the riddle with a pencil. This reveals an imprint of Della’s blueprints for the Spear of Selene! Now knowing what the machine looks like, the kids are ready to take the next step in the mystery as a family.

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• As soon as the episode begins, there are multiple things that can be compared to other situations

• Every number of years, a strange weather occurrence clears the way to an ancient structure with a lost treasure hidden deep inside it

• This sounds very similar to the prophecy surrounding Atlantis and a little like the fifty-year prophecy of the golden cricket in “House of the Lucky Gander!” 

• The strange mist feels reminiscent of the mist in “Moorshire” and the cosmic storm itself

• This was a trip taken behind Donald’s back just like Atlantis and the Spear incident

• The Druid stones granted Fergus and Downy immortality

• This draws a connection to the Druid stones used in “Moorshire” and continues to beg the question whether the father could have gained this ability in Space as well as possibly entering another realm 

In the past, I've talked about the possibility of Webby Reacts using clips from other Disney shows to foreshadow upcoming plot points in DuckTales. Her reaction to The Descendants 3 trailer seemed to be hinting towards "Castle" as there were mentions of a father and being cursed. Some other mentions include someone getting left behind, mysterious parentage and a desire for a long-lost family.

There was also a reference to The Possessed Pizza of Pompeii from her Raven's Home reaction. In that video, she believes the featured character is possessed by an evil shapeshifter and that the spirit could be a siren. This sounds a lot like the whole mole-monster thing from "Terror" and the siren bit reminds me of what I theorized about Launchpad being affected by during the family's adventure on Ithaquack. 

• Both story plots involve someone wanting to go on a solo hunt for a lost treasure

• Scrooge and Dewey experience setbacks due to their family members getting in the way of their plans 

• The fact that the boys find the Spear on the back of the riddle could imply that the riddle represented Della’s own secret investigation and how she could have been using the ship in a search to find a lost someone, who she treasured

• Because it was found in such an important place to Clan McDuck’s heritage, the riddle could also represent that the investigation involved a family member

• During the family dinner, Scrooge gets Launchpad to pose as a dramatically different Donald 

• This change in identity happens after staying in a vehicle surrounded by mist

• Launchpad keeps reverting back to being himself instead of pretending to be Donald 

• When he talks about how Scrooge took him and the boys in, he says it as if they came together as a unit while Donald came separately 

• He almost gets to saying that “Launchpad” isn’t his real name

• The riddle to find the lost “crown” was originally intended for Donald and since Launchpad is pretending to be Donald as the boys are on their search, this continues to draw a connection to both episode plots

• Donald is the closest character the boys have to being their father

• The riddle leads the boys to Donald’s grave and Della may believe that the father is dead

• There was a dangerous creature lurking around in the catacombs and chased the boys like the father could have encountered something scary in the cosmic storm
  
  
• Scrooge and Fergus’ argument suddenly reminded me of what we saw of Donald and Della’s argument.

• Fergus and Donald were upset because they believed Scrooge and Della valued treasure or adventure more than their family

• It’s kinda similar to Donald yelling at Scrooge in “Woo-oo!” too: “Crazy old man, all you care about is the next adventure!”

• Could this also possibly reflect the father’s selfishness? Or could he also be misinterpreted due to the actions he made?

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“The Other Bin!” focuses on themes such as keeping secrets, supernatural happenings and the consequences of dishonesty.

• After Magica overhears Scrooge telling Beakley about putting his dime in The Other Bin, she gets Lena to convince Webby to take them there

• This is where Scrooge hides his most dangerous finds to keep them from being stolen

• The Other Bin is full of chambers, which makes it difficult to figure out which one contains the dime

• Magica wants to ditch Webby but Lena insists that she could be lost in the bin forever without her help  

• After opening the wrong door, Webby suggests for them to develop a plan to help them look more safely but Lena is impatient

• Webby questions her friend about why their search for the dime is so urgent

• In another room, a mythical dreamcatcher sucks Lena into her worst nightmare where Magica is freed and Webby finds out that she’s been working for a villain this whole time

• In the nightmare, Magica points out how Lena was using Webby in a similar way that she was using Lena

• She uses Webby’s voice to call her a coward, a traitor and a monster

• The magic from Lena’s amulet obliterates the Webby doll

• Lena is through with exploring the bin when she wakes up and apologizes to Webby about keeping her down here

• Lena wants to reveal Magica to Scrooge, but her aunt won’t let her

• Magica takes over Lena’s body to get the dime herself

• Huey befriends a sasquatch and hides him in the mansion

• He tries to keep him a secret, but his brothers eventually find out

• Huey begs his brother to help him continue to keep his friend as a secret because Scrooge is hunting around for suspicious activity

• Louie wants to surrender the sasquatch because he doesn’t want this to lead into Scrooge finding out about his schemes

• Huey and Dewey threaten to expose their brother if he doesn’t follow through

• Louie begins to sense that the sasquatch, which Huey has named Tenderfeet, isn’t as innocent as he appears but his brothers are in constant denial

• Louie finds out that Tenderfeet, who is actually named Gavin, is scamming Huey and Dewey by posing as something he’s not

• Gavin threatens to harm Louie if he rats him out
  
• Louie gets frustrated and finds a way to scam Gavin right back

• Gavin is unable to defend himself since he has to keep up his charade

• The boys save Tenderfeet from being hunted by Scrooge

• Louie gives a fake heart-felt speech about how the sasquatch should return home to his family

The boys now have their own DWD poster in their room and it's the same one Launchpad has in his garage. Since this item is so heavily associated with Launchpad and serves as the closest thing we have to him appearing in the episode, could this sudden addition be a subtle hint to him having a connection to themes being presented? That he will be considered as a monster and / or that he's been dishonest in a way? 

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“The Last Crash of The Sunchaser!” is a really important episode for potential hints about Della’s journey that I just had to view again:

• Scrooge states that their destination, Monacrow, is the final resting place of the rare Maltese MacGuffin that got lost during Netherworld War II

• By being an elusive heirloom, it’s a family-related treasure that hasn’t been seen by many

• The term “resting place” invokes the feeling of a burial site for someone who is dead

• When Scrooge instructs Launchpad to give Beakley a tour of the plane to prove how safe it is, he insists to pilot the plane

• Mrs. Beakley questions Scrooge’s ability to fly but he nonchalantly uses his ego to cover up his inexperience

• This is a bit similar to Scrooge being surprised by Launchpad flying the Sunchaser in “Woo-oo!”

• On Webby’s new conspiracy board display, an unseen photo is labeled as “Father”

• Based on the string and pinpoints, this is in reference to Scrooge’s father, Fergus…but what does he have to do with Della’s disappearance? They’ve never considered Fergus before, so why would they include him if he isn’t a key component to this investigation?

• Why would he be on the board without Downy?

• This wasn’t simply left there because everything that was previously shown on Webby’s board in “Woo-oo!” is now placed in a different format

The close-ups allow us to see every label except Scrooge and Father. We don't get to see they're on the board until the display is zoomed out.

(Note: The picture of Webby's new board in full is comprised of two separate screenshots from the same scene and sharpened to make it easier to read.)

• Everything on the board is there for a reason
• Della took the Spear
• Selene is named after it
• Webby and Dewey talk with Selene in her garden
• HDL were born on the week Della left
• Scrooge and Donald stopped talking to each other

• The riddle with the blueprint was found in Clan McDuck’s ancestral castle but it’s not like Fergus knew about it

• The closest Fergus himself could come to being related to this situation is that he’s cursed with immortality, resides in an area of strange, cloudy formations tied to a prophecy and he was the focal point in an episode about lost family treasure…but his inclusion still doesn’t make sense from the kids’ standpoint

• His addition seems more likely to be something purely for the audience to notice

• Multiple things on Webby’s original board foreshadowed future story elements 

• This is the second mention of a paternal figure in this episode with the “Fun for Dad!” phrase on the E.X.C.E.S.S. flyer being the first

The moment we're able to see "Father" labeled on the board, Webby rushes over to hide their research from the adults. Her head blocks the mysterious section when she pulls the curtain down.

• The photo piece that the kids are trying to put together is described as their best chance to find out why Della disappeared and first goes missing when Scrooge crashes into a rocky peak

• This may be paralleling how Della may have lost track of the father when she crashed on the Moon

• Launchpad is one of the first people we see when Dewey opens the crate hatch to find the piece

• Launchpad is seen rubbing the back of his head after the crash; implying a head injury

• When Dewey reaches out for the piece a second time, the scene cuts to Launchpad

• The way Beakley tries to tell Scrooge that pursuing the trip from this point would be too dangerous reminds me of Scrooge trying to warn Della about the cosmic storm

• It’s also similar to how the kids try to encourage Dewey to come back to the plane as he continues to chase after the piece

• Launchpad attempts to distract the kids from Scrooge and Beakley’s arguing with a tape recording of Darkwing Duck, but the player has been damaged in the crash

• In the credits, Darkwing is placed on a building, in front of the Moon

• Launchpad had broken the back window of Scrooge’s teal-colored jeep while loading the supplies

• The cracks feel a bit reminiscent of lightning

• The lost piece gets stuck above the window of the trunk door

• Launchpad later gets stuck after crashing into the hatch and causes the cargo to barricade the vehicle

• During his escape from the window, the hatch opens and makes the jeep fall out of the plane

• Launchpad almost falls out along with it

• Beakley tries to talk Scrooge out of his plan to jump-start the propeller because jeopardizing their safety equipment would make things worse

• She tells him that he’s already a very capable adventurer and didn’t need to do anything risky to prove it

• This is very similar to the point Huey was trying to make in “Neverrest”

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“The Shadow War!” is a pretty significant episode for the series in general. It shares the same major components with “Woo-oo!”: There’s a desire to travel to Cape Suzette, a rift in the family because of Della’s disappearance, a big adventure that brings the family back together and a reveal about Della towards the very end. This two-part episode is also referenced twice in Season 2 as an important story element. Similarly to the pilot, I believe “Shadow War” could be containing hints to Della’s true intentions with the rocket as well as what the father might have gotten himself into.

• After overhearing about Donald and the boys moving away, Webby and Launchpad come up with an elaborate plan for a farewell party to convince the family to stay and make up with Scrooge

• This could coincide with the idea of Della originally wanting the father to be present for HDL’s hatching

• Webby and LP want to have Scrooge as a surprise guest, but he never shows up

• In “McManor”, Scrooge had disappeared from the abyss box before Glomgold was able to give him his “birthday gift”

• Della wanted to catch Santa for Scrooge’s Christmas gift, but she was never able to

HDL's room in the Houseboat contains a plane, robot, rocket, and an archery set. These could all be references to Della and possibly the father in some way.

• Splitting up with his family puts Scrooge in a miserable state that confuses Magica

• This is very similar to how Scrooge fell into a depressive slump when Della disappeared
  
  
• Magica describes Scrooge as someone who is normally a “shrewd, conquering hero of legend.”

• She convinces herself that Scrooge is only pretending to be a pathetic loser to trick her, but soon realizes that he’s being authentic with his behavior

• Magica is set free from Scrooge’s dime in a cloudy formation of magic

• She describes the place she’s been being kept as “the abyss”

• In their magical cage, Scrooge confronts Lena by calling her a traitor and how disappointed he is about trusting her enough to let her in

• When Lena agrees to help Scrooge, Magica casts her back into the Shadow Realm

• Scrooge is being held hostage in a plot of revenge

• Magica gets back at Scrooge by sealing him into the dime

• She also torments him as she destroys everything he cares about

• As the family prepares to save Scrooge, Beakley refers to the collection of shadows as a storm and Fenton describes it as a "swirling shadow vortex"

• A vehicle was being used to save someone stuck during the storm and eventually gets destroyed by it

• Glomgold ends up losing his memory due to this “storm”

• Donald declares “I am the storm.”

• Could this contribute to the idea of the father provoking the storm to happen in some way?

• Could this be hinting that the storm became part of the father after he was mutated by it?

• Donald gets electrocuted multiple times during the shadow "storm” because of Gyro’s invention

• Launchpad goes on a dangerous flight path towards the “storm”

• He constantly has to fight against the shadows as they prevent him from crashing into the Money Bin

• The kids search for Lena at the Greek theater, but when they can’t find her, Webby is worried that her best friend was taken by the shadows

• The kids discover the truth about Lena being a shadow spy after reading a page in her journal

• Webby is devastated that the person she thought so highly of, was working for a villain 

• This causes her to believe that Lena never truly cared about her 

• As Magica fights Webby, she taunts her by stating that Lena was never real 

• When Lena reappears and get struck by Magica’s scepter, she seems to get zapped out of existence, but in reality, she lives on through Webby’s friendship bracelet

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(Click here to continue into Season 2)

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*•. ̧♥ Originally Drafted ♥ ̧.•*'
˜”*°• May 3rd, 2020 •°*”~